


It Started With A Meet-Cute

by von_gelmini



Series: Starker Bingo 2019 [20]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Agoraphobia, Alpha Tony Stark, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Child Abuse, Childbirth, Childhood Trauma, Discussion of Abortion, Emotional Manipulation, Forced Prostitution, Foster Care, Homeless Peter Parker, Hurt Morgan Stark, Hurt Peter Parker, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Peter Parker, Omega Verse, Physical Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pregnancy, Prostitution, Rape Recovery, Recovery, Sexual Abuse, Sign Language, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-27 09:12:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20757929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/von_gelmini/pseuds/von_gelmini
Summary: Peter laughed. Customer service people, especially Omegas, weren’t supposed to laugh at an Alpha, especially one with the scent of Prime about him. His ‘customer service’ voice disappeared. “All the things in his life and Tony Stark’s bored,” Peter said, a sly smile on his lips. He paused, pointedly. “With his wardrobe. I think I can un-bore him.” It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Tony was really bored with. And Peter was a genius.Tony was already becoming un-bored. “Thrill me.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> All right guys, I've been getting a lot of negative and down right nasty comments on this fic. If this sort of thing is not your cuppa, back the heck out of it. Quit bugging me with bs. From now on, I'm not answering anything negative or nasty on this fic. I'm going through my comments and deleting all those I engaged with. I should know better than to engage in an online argument. So from now on those kinds of comments WILL be deleted. So don't waste yours and my time.
> 
> * * *
> 
> For Starker Bingo 2019  
Prompt: A/B/O
> 
> This is the story that made me cry. Like a lot. Not just saying it, there were literal tears on the keyboard. It's a real tearjerker. Just warning you. But there will be a happy ending for everybody.
> 
> There are a lot of bad tags up there. Most of it is implied. Almost none of it happens between Tony and Peter, certainly not past chapter 1. It's that Peter and Morgan get in bad situations. Very little of it is explicitly described. Mostly only through recovery. The A/B/O elements are extremely non-traditional and don't carry the inherent dub-con aspects that they usually do. At least not between the main characters.

It started with a meet-cute, straight out of an Omega romance movie. 

The clothing shop Peter worked at catered to a very wealthy clientele. The fashion sold there was au currant for the male Alpha. Though the customers could easily afford it, the clothes were horrendously overpriced and even the wealthy hated to be overcharged. Which was why the owner insisted on hiring Omegas as sales people. Surrounded by the scent of them, confronted with their sweet demeanor and eagerness to please, an Alpha’s awareness of the price tag flew right out the window.

For an Omega, finding a job was nearly impossible. They were expected to do nothing more than be mated, look after their Alpha, and raise their Alpha’s pups. It wasn’t unusual to find an Omega with absolutely no education beyond simple reading. They were presumed to be unable to comprehend anything beyond their biological imperative. That wasn’t true. An Omega could be just as smart as any Alpha, if given the chance. And Peter had been given that chance. His parents insisted on it. Even after they died, his aunt and uncle, both Betas, continued raising him as his parents wished.

Peter’s parents — his father an Omega, his mother an Alpha — were both scientific geniuses who excelled in their chosen fields. Richard Parker had been a chemist. Mary Parker had been a physicist. As one would expect with that genetic combination, their Omega son inherited their intelligence. Peter excelled from an early age, and without having societal expectations put on him, he was allowed to explore whatever direction his mind took him. He had the finest education, attending STEM oriented schools in which he was often the only Omega in a student body primarily of Alphas with a scattering of Betas amongst them.

Even once he presented, his aunt and uncle didn’t insist he quit school, no matter what the administration tried to do. “Control your Alphas,” Uncle Ben demanded. “I won’t teach my nephew not to be raped when you should be teaching the Alphas not to do the raping.” When Peter’s uncle was shot in a mugging, his Aunt May took over his defense and she was even fiercer. Peter was allowed to graduate from Midtown Tech.

Going on to higher education was another matter. On her own, May couldn’t afford to send him to one of the few schools, all private, that accepted Omegas and scholarships were only ever granted to Alphas. Public universities were ruled by old fashioned laws that claimed to be for the ‘protection’ of Omegas but were really about maintaining their near enslavement. By the age to graduate high school, any Omega unclaimed was assumed to have something wrong with them. Claims happened young. Often immediately after the Omega presented, which could be at an alarmingly young age.

There was a growing modern, liberated Omega movement, especially in big, liberal cities like New York. By city law, within its limits, Omegas had nearly equal rights to Betas. Not to Alphas of course. Alphas ruled, and the few Prime Alphas there were ruled above them. But as an Omega, Peter could work, own property, and he could refuse anyone’s claim. If the Alpha pressed beyond the refusal, they could be prosecuted. People outside of New York considered the city to be insane and believed it would lead to the ruination of the entire country, if not the world.

Peter was happily single. He would’ve liked to go to college, but he accepted the fact that it would never happen. Until he got the high paying job at the clothing store. He was one of their best sales people and always took home a hefty commission in addition to his salary. He was adorably cute, petite, deferential when it was needed, but he also had an ability to stand up for himself, giving a tantalizing resistance that most Omegas never did. As soon as he was able, he started taking night classes. 

Peter dated, but not seriously. He was on birth control and his heats were carefully monitored. The store gave each Omega time off during their heats. While the scent of an Omega was good for business. The scent of an Omega in heat most definitely was not. The Alphas were too busy competing for the Omega’s attention to buy anything.

Tony Stark was one of the wealthiest men in the world. His company was well known for being innovative in tech and revolutionary in dozens of other areas. He handsome and was constantly in the newspapers, on magazine covers, and his life was gossip fodder for entertainment TV. He was also one of the few Prime Alphas. He was on everyone’s ‘most eligible bachelor’ list, but he remained devoted to the playboy lifestyle. Omegas came and went in his life. Snagging a spot as one of Tony’s bed warmers was coveted by every unclaimed Omega, even though there was no chance of claim and marriage.

He was also known to be a fashionable clothes horse with an eclectic style. So it was only a matter of time before he wound up at the shop Peter worked at.

Tony was bored with the submissive, vapid Omegas that littered the scene. There wasn’t a single brain cell shared between the lot of them. While the ones he chose were beautiful, after a couple of nights spent fucking their brains out he was kicking them to the curb. Before, he’d at least spend a week or two with them. Lately he was burning through them, male and female, at a prodigious rate. 

“Good afternoon, Mister Stark. I’m Peter. Is there anything I can help you with?”

Tony practically rolled his eyes at the boy’s ‘customer service’ voice. “Something different. I’m bored. With my wardrobe,” he added specifically, though he meant in general.

Peter laughed. Customer service people, especially Omegas, weren’t supposed to laugh at an Alpha, especially one with the scent of Prime about him. His ‘customer service’ voice disappeared. “All the things in his life and Tony Stark’s bored,” Peter said, a sly smile on his lips. He paused, pointedly. “With his wardrobe. I think I can un-bore him.” It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Tony was really bored with. And Peter was a genius.

Tony was already becoming un-bored. “Thrill me.”

“Off with your jacket.” Peter made a little dismissive wave that meant ‘hurry up’. He brought two things off a rack in the back of the store. “Honestly, this is absolutely perfect for you.”

Eyes wide, surprised at the boldness, Tony actually took his jacket off as  _ ordered  _ to by the little Omega. He smiled at the boy. He was definitely not boring, and he was definitely beautiful. “What do you have fo…” Before he could finish, Peter was slipping a tuxedo jacket onto his arm, leaning close — too close — to slide it over Tony’s shoulders. He held it there for Tony to put his other arm into. 

Peter buttoned the button, put his hand on the small of Tony’s back, and led him to the mirror. “This will turn heads at your next gala, yet is subtle enough to qualify as appropriate formal wear.”

The jacket was dark blue velvet, but not boring navy. It was shot through with fine glitter threads. The sparkles weren’t too closely together as to look costumey. It was more as if stars had been scattered all over him. The satin of the lapels was gros grain on the bias and the ridges picked up the light in the shop. Under a spotlight, if Tony was at a podium speaking, he would be the most compelling person in the room.

“Well?” Peter asked. “Did I read you right? Balance it with a plain tuxedo pant, a bow tie of the lapel material, and patent leather shoes — not flat leather. You want to pick up the light at the bottom to balance the top.” Peter waved his finger in a spinning motion. 

Tony twirled slowly, looking at the view in the three sided mirror. “Where has this been all my life?”

Peter chuckled. “In the back of the store for months, waiting for someone bold enough to wear it. On anyone else it would look garish. On you, it’s perfect. When we first got it, I knew only Tony Stark could carry it off.” Peter blushed. “I’ve followed your sense of style for some time.”

Tony was mesmerized by the pink on the boy’s cheeks rising to match his lip-gloss-wet bottom lip. He cleared his throat. “I see another hanger there.”

Peter smiled. Close lipped but his eyes twinkling. “It’s categorized as business wear but I see it more for a red carpet or less formal party. Try this.” Peter held up a double breasted suit coat. It’s base tone was grey, but overlaid were vertical groups of broad and narrow stripes in grey/black and dull red. Peter had brought a pair of solid color slacks that matched the base grey. “I know it looks like a bit much on the hanger, but I’m dying to see what it’s like  _ on  _ you.”

Tony looked skeptical. The tuxedo jacket was perfect but this looked… less so. Still, he shrugged out of one and started to put on the other. “I think you got this one wrong, kid.” He turned to look in the mirror. A broad smile broke out on his face and he laughed.

“See?” Peter said. “You’ll stand out in an ocean of navy and black suits. Unique. Attention grabbing. Playful. Someone bored with the stiff roles assigned to Alphas, especially Primes like yourself.”

“How…”

“Was I right?”

“Dead on, little Omega.”

Peter looked down, smiled that close-lipped sly, flirtatious smile again. “Thank you Prime.”

“I’ll take both — the full ensembles as you suggested.” It was Tony’s turn to put a hand on the small of the back, Peter’s. “I’ll also take your phone number, if you don’t mind giving it.”

Peter wrote it on the back of the receipt. “I have classes four days a week, but my Fridays and Saturdays are free.”

Tony quirked an eyebrow. “Classes?”

“I’m taking night classes at Columbia.”

“Really? In what?” 

“My major’s going to be chemistry, but right now I’m still clearing requirements.”

“Peter, I’m sure Prime Stark isn’t interested in your insistence on  _ study _ ,” the cashier said, annoyed with Peter’s overly familiar tone and the loss of his submissiveness.

“You’re  _ sure _ ,” Tony said, sarcastically imitating the cashier. “Why chemistry?” Tony asked, turning back to Peter.

Peter blushed at the attention being drawn to him. “My father, who was also an Omega, was a research chemist. My mother, an Alpha, was a physicist. I enjoy physics, but I really like chemistry. The experimentation and quick discovery.” He smiled. “I’m a bit too impatient for physics.”

“Physics isn’t always slow. It took less than two weeks for me to create a new element.”

“I know. I read about it in the journals. But we can’t all be Tony Stark. That position is already taken — quite nicely.” Peter knew he was going to get an earful from the cashier and probably his manager. The lack of proper address — slathering the ‘Alpha’ or ‘Prime’ nearly every other sentence while the Omega debased themselves in front of one. Peter thought it was ridiculous. And apparently, from his reaction, so did Tony.

“Friday. Eight. Dress to complement this,” Tony said, holding up the striped suit jacket. He turned to leave.

“You don’t know my address.”

Tony smiled. “I have your name and number, Peter Parker. I didn’t know your last name before, but I do now, without you telling me. Do you think I can’t find out where you live?”

Peter laughed. “I’ll be waiting. Don’t get lost.”

As soon as Tony left, the earful started. Not that Peter heard a word of it. He was going on a date with  _ the  _ Tony Stark. 

One thing followed another. The spark between them was electrifying. After only two dates, very long dates during which they closed the restaurant and stayed hours after keeping the impatient employees there, Peter moved into the penthouse of Stark Tower. He left his aunt’s apartment and his job behind. For the first time in years, Tony was considering what the ‘long haul’ might look like. And Peter was head over heels in love.

Their sex life was incredible, but when Peter had his heat, it went into next level territory. Tony had to struggle not to claim the boy. And Peter wouldn’t have resisted at all even though they’d only been together for two and a half months.

A few weeks later Peter spent his third morning in the bathroom hugging the toilet. Tony’s concern manifested as anger. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you convince me to take you to that Vietnamese dive in Queens. Food poisoning.” He tsked and shook his head. “FRIDAY, call the doctor.”

“I’ll be okay, Tony,” Peter said, looking entirely not okay. He was pale, shaking with a chill, and covered in sweat.

“Let me get you into bed, baby.” Tony lifted Peter off the floor. He rang for a maid to bring a bucket. He sat on the edge of the bed, stroking Peter’s head. “You look dehydrated. Do you think you could hold down water?”

The thought of it had Peter grabbing for the bucket, though it was nothing but dry heaves. 

“I’m staying home today baby.”

“Tony, I know you have that merger meeting this morning.”

“Pepper can handle it. All it needs is my yes or no and my signature. I’m worried about you baby. Food poisoning should have passed by now.”

Peter shrugged. “Maybe it was really bad. It tasted okay though.”

“I know it was a favorite place of yours and your aunt’s but those little spots are nothing but rat traps.”

Peter curled around and put his head in Tony’s lap. It felt much better being close to him, having Tony caring for him. His Prime Alpha scent seemed stronger than usual. Protective and enveloping. The doctor came and he had to disentangle himself from Tony. Peter whimpered at the loss.

The doctor’s examination was gentle but thorough and took place in Tony’s bed.

“When was your Omega’s last heat?”

Peter blinked. Even as sick as he felt, being ignored stung. “I’m right here. My last heat was three weeks ago.”

The doctor looked at Peter and then at Tony. “His last heat?” he asked Tony again.

“Three weeks ago, like Peter said.”

“Did you knot your Omega? I don’t see a claiming bite.”

“We haven’t… done that,” Tony explained. “But we did knot.” Tony smiled at the memory. Peter curled back into his lap.

“Your Omega’s going to have your pups, Prime. Congratulations.”

Tony stood up suddenly, pushing Peter away. He stared down accusingly. “You told me you were on birth control. You manipulative little bitch.”

“I am, Alpha,” Peter whined, instinctively taking a submissive tone and posture. “I take the pills every day. I have done since I first presented. Please, Alpha.”

“Bring me the pills you bought your Omega,” the doctor said.

“I didn’t buy them. He gets his own. Idiot Omegas. All of you. I thought you were different.” Tony strode angrily off to the bathroom and returning, threw the packet on the bed.

The doctor examined the pills.

“These are the right ones for an Omega his size. I’m sorry, Prime, that the news disappoints you. Even the best birth control is only 98% effective.”

“Fuck. How soon can you see him? Get rid of the damn thing.”

“Alpha!” Peter curled around his stomach.

“You know I never want children. We talked about this. You agreed.” Tony breathed deeply to calm himself. He sat back down on the bed. “Baby, as soon as the little fucker’s gone, things can get back to normal. You know how much I care about you baby. But I will not have a child. That’s entirely non-negotiable.”

“I can make an appointment for tomorrow morning.

Tears were streaming down Peter’s face. “I… Alpha, please!” Peter slid off the bed onto the floor, flattened himself on it, arms wrapped around Tony’s ankles. “Please, Prime,” he begged.

“Absolutely not.” Tony pulled out of Peter’s grasp and walked across the room. He looked down at the boy, surprised at his sudden Omega submission. “Look what the damn hormones have done to you already. The last thing I want is a little parasite running around waiting for me to die so he can get rich. It’s not happening.”

“Do as your Prime says, Omega.”

“He’s not my Alpha,” Peter said between sobs. “I’m unclaimed.”

“And you never will be, not by me. Especially if you keep the damn thing.”

Peter had never given any thought to having children. Like all Omegas, he assumed at some point in life, once he’d been claimed, it would happen. Even dedicated singles like him couldn't get rid of the dreams put into them by a lifetime of societal pressure and biology. He knew Tony said he didn’t want children, but Peter figured that was because he’d never claimed a mate. Once he did, that would change. The way their quick, passionate relationship was going, that mate would be Peter. He couldn’t figure out why Tony was so upset at the schedule being rushed ahead a little bit.

“Tony, you said you want me. We talked about it. After a year or so, you said.”

“Yeah, but that was when I thought you wouldn’t become a bitch.”

“It’s not my fault!” Peter protested.

“Then get rid of it!”

Peter rested his hands low over his belly. “It’s alive.”

“It can be dead just as easily.”

Peter flinched, instinctively scooting away from the threat.

“God, look at you. I don’t even recognize you already. You’d chose that  _ thing _ over me.”

“It’s ours, Tony.”

“I don’t give a shit. It’s yours or I’m not. It’s not mine. I don’t accept it, whether it’s my load of come in you or not.” 

“Omega, without his claim, you have every right to keep the pup or get rid of it, regardless of what the Prime says.”

“It’s a simple decision, Peter. Either you keep that thing or you keep me. You can’t have both.” Tony knelt down to bring him to Peter’s level. “I want you baby. I do. But that means you have to get rid of it. Without that, it’s over. I want you baby. You’re the first Omega I’ve actually wanted.”

“As long as I agree to murder our child.”

“It’s a clump of fucking cells.” Tony stood again and walked away. “I thought you were smart enough to overcome this biology bullshit.”

There are no happy endings. The Omega doesn’t win the Alpha’s heart. They don’t wind up a happy family together. Instead the Omega packs his bags and heads home, heartbroken, to his aunt’s apartment and finds himself back at his old job. That was the difference between movies and real life.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poverty sucks. Life sucks. Tony sucks for leaving Peter in such a situation because of his stupid demand. But things start to improve (a tiny little bit) by the end. Here, have a little more heartbreak and tears.

It turned out that a pregnant Omega is good for sales. It brought out the protective instinct in the Alpha customers. They were willing to buy _ anything _to keep the dear sweet Omega happy. Once Peter started getting a tiny baby bump, it got even better. He had a nice little nest egg put away from all his commissions.

Which was good. Because they had no health insurance when May was diagnosed with stage four cancer in Peter’s fifth month. She was gone by month eight. As was Peter’s nest egg. His employer let him work right up until he started getting false contractions and he knew it wasn’t long until his (and Tony’s) baby was going to be born.

“I don’t see why I have to go to the hospital. Birth is a natural process. Omegas used to give birth at home all the time with no medical care.”

“In the dark ages,” Ned reminded him.

“When infant and Omega mortality were through the roof,” MJ also reminded him.

Peter sighed. “There’s no money left. The last went to pay the funeral bills. I’m still in debt to the hospital, so I can’t go there.”

“You should call that fucker and make him pay,” MJ said angrily.

Peter shook his head. “He made himself very clear. I made my decision; I have to live with it.” Peter started crying. “I just wish I didn’t still love him.”

“You shouldn’t. He’s not worthy of your love, Peter.” MJ’s voice was firm.

“I know. It’s just…”

“Hey Peter. Guess what I just found on youtube!” Ned said. “How to deliver a baby in an emergency. We got this bro.”

“Welcome MJ and Ned’s baby delivery service,” MJ said, trying to seem more confident than she felt. “We’re staying over for the duration.”

Ned and MJ kept Peter distracted when he needed to be, gave him shoulders to cry on when he needed that, timed his contractions and helped Peter breathe through them. Youtube was remarkably educational. The millennial’s university. Between the three of them, all the supplies were gathered and boiled for sterilization. A drawer was set up to act as a crib to put the baby in. Peter’s bed was covered with a shower curtain and then with sheets on top of that.

They knew when the birth was coming because a male Omega evacuated the day before and their slick flowed as freely as during the most extreme part of their heat. It was different than heat slick though. This cleaned the way, had a mild anesthetic effect, and was designed to help the baby through the birthing process. 

The pain was worse than anything Peter felt before. It felt like his insides were ripping out. But after sixteen hours of labor, a little girl was born. Everyone was crying with joy. Peter named her Morgan. She had a head full of dark hair and was red-faced and squalling. Perfectly healthy, MJ pronounced her. She was all smiles until she looked over at Ned, who was still crouched between Peter’s legs. MJ looked. There was blood, but that was expected. What wasn't expected was how _ much _blood there was. And that Peter was still bleeding without any seeming stop to it. When MJ looked back at Peter over the sheet draped across his knees, the boy was almost as white as that sheet and his eyes were unfocused. Peter passed out and MJ managed to just catch Morgan before she fell from his arms.

Hospital bills or not, she called 911. Since Morgan was healthy, to save expense, she and Ned didn’t let the ambulance take her along with Peter. They cleaned her off and wrapped her in the warm blankets they’d prepared. Then they headed to the subway, with Morgan in MJ’s arms. They found Peter, who luckily was still alive. The doctor asked about next of kin, but MJ and Ned were the closest he had. They both signed the paperwork and then went to Peter’s room. 

Peter brightened immediately when he saw Morgan. He brought her to his nipple, which was puffy with milk. “You’re going to be my only baby,” Peter said crying. He looked at his friends. “The doctor said I can’t have anymore children. They had to… there was too much damage.” His friends held him and comforted him. Morgan is so beautiful he doesn’t need another child, they said.

Miraculously, Peter’s job was still waiting for him after his six week pregnancy leave. He had to put Morgan in a state subsidized daycare for the children of wayward Omegas but he picked her up every day promptly after work. He devoted himself to her care, working only enough hours to keep them afloat. The hospital bills kept coming, but Peter couldn’t pay. He didn’t have enough assets or a big enough paycheck to make the collection agency threats real, so he just stopped answering his phone unless he recognized the number. The bills that came to the apartment went straight into the trash. Ned researched it. If Peter ignored it long enough, the hospital would write it off, but the moment he answered any of it, he became liable for the bills.

Morgan looked so much like Tony. The dark hair, full lips, even down to the expressions she made. The only bit of himself he saw in her was the color of her eyes. Honey brown instead of dark almost black like Tony’s were. And she was bright. Amazingly bright. Peter fed her growing curiosity from the earliest age. He read to her constantly and was surprised to find that one day when they were reading a new chapter book that neither had read before, Morgan, at two and a half, started reading aloud, words sibilant on her still-forming palate, ahead of where Peter was on the page. She taught herself how to read. Absorbed it from her environment and the fact that Peter never talked baby talk to her or held her back. 

It was heartbreakingly like watching a little Tony Stark develop. Peter bought her all the inappropriate-for-a-little-Omega toys. Things to build with, little science kits, tinker toys, lego, erector sets. Morgan took to them like a duck to water. She had an insatiable curiosity and was getting into so much trouble at daycare that Peter took her out of it. He adjusted his shifts to fit around when he could get a sitter, usually roping MJ or Ned into it on their off hours. When MJ claimed her girlfriend Liz, Liz became Morgan’s babysitter. It was good practice for her and MJ’s own child who was coming soon. Ned was still enjoying the single life but it was getting harder to resist the pretty Alpha girl who came by the coffee shop every day. Resist he did though because he wasn’t ready to become a parent. He saw how much of a struggle it was for Peter. And how much pining his friend still did for Tony, who hadn’t even claimed him. How much worse would it be for a claimed Omega? Ned feared the total dependence he would have on that pretty Alpha girl.

Peter didn’t date. He hadn’t time for it. Caring for Morgan was a full time job in addition to the full time job he actually had. But after sharing Tony Stark’s life, even for only three months, who would compete with that? He didn’t take classes anymore. In fact, he avoided going in to Manhattan entirely. He knew Tony wouldn’t be caught dead in Queens. Peter really wished he could say that he didn’t obsessively comb the society pages, looking at whatever piece of beautiful arm candy was accompanying Tony that week. They were still changing fast. Until one day they weren’t. Peter’s friends came by to find him in a deep depression, having missed a shift of work, and not bothering to play with Morgan, though he was still keeping a loose eye on her.

Tony was engaged to another Alpha. It worked for them because he was Prime and she wasn’t. But the non-traditionalism of it was newsworthy. The marriage lasted barely longer than the engagement did. By the time Morgan was four, Tony was single again and trolling the pool of available Omegas like he’d always done.

If it wasn’t for the occasional twinges of longing, Peter’s life was perfect. He had a steady job and a beautiful, brilliant daughter who he loved. 

Retail workers didn’t get health insurance. Especially Omegas and their children, who were expected to be covered under their Alpha’s plan. Peter never did know what Morgan came down with. She was perfectly fine one day and then that night she developed a spiking fever. Ice baths were the only thing he could find online that was recommended. Keeping fluids in her. Over the counter fever drops. Once the fever broke, Morgan suffered from other symptoms that needed constant monitoring, more over the counter treatments, and home remedies to keep them from becoming worse. Even the best employee can’t be kept on with over two weeks of unexcused absences. If he had a doctor’s note for Morgan, allowances might have been made by the corporate office of the shop, but he couldn’t afford to take her to the doctor. 

Morgan made a full recovery and was back to her happy, curious self. Only the bills on the counter weren’t the old hospital bills from years ago, they were current. Utilities, rent, everything was stacking up as Peter tore through the last of his savings just to buy food. MJ and Ned tried to help, but they were little better off than Peter.

Once the pretty Alpha girl snared Ned, she turned out to be far more traditional than she’d let on. A ‘fallen’ Omega like Peter wasn’t a suitable friend for the Omega of her children, the first of which was already on its way. Ned tried, but his Alpha would brook no argument and wasn’t opposed to using biology to get her way. 

MJ was laid off from her job. She and Liz and their two children were struggling. Liz’s father offered MJ a job with his construction firm in south Jersey. She tried to resist, but there were too many graphic artists in New York for the market to bear. MJ moved soon after Morgan’s recovery.

Peter managed to hold onto May’s apartment for three months after the eviction notice was delivered until finally, the police came to carry it out. He took what could fit into a backpack and left with Morgan in tow. There were always empty buildings and apartments in Queens. It wasn’t hard to find a squat. It was fine during the summer and even into fall, but winter was difficult. Building a small fire risked being caught by well-meaning citizens who noticed the smoke. 

He tried moving them into a shelter, but that was as dangerous as being on the street. Especially when Peter’s heat was close and heat suppressants were unaffordable. Peter was panhandling when another of those ‘well-meaning citizens’ saw Morgan and reported them to CPS. Without a home or shelter to live in, Morgan was placed in foster care. Peter was allowed to see her once a week at the foster family’s home. If he hadn’t managed to panhandle enough for bus fare, Peter would start out early, walking until he reached the foster family’s home for his scheduled visit. He never missed a single time that he was allowed to see her.

An older Alpha noticed Peter panhandling. It turned out the man considered the area to belong to him. If Peter was going to work there he was going to pay for the privilege. When Peter resisted the kind of work that the Alpha offered, he was beaten until he no longer resisted it. The Alpha Peter worked for never claimed any of his Omegas. The claiming bite lowered their price because the Alphas renting them didn’t want to think they were trespassing on another Alpha’s property. 

An Omega as small, delicate, and underfed as Peter was in high demand. In even higher demand was one in heat. While heat suppressants were safe pharmaceuticals, there were more dubious medications that kept an Omega in a state of constant low-level heat. They played hell with an Omega’s internal parts that managed his heat, but the Alpha Peter worked for didn’t care about that. He just wanted the extra money the Omega earned from being in constant heat. Not a full heat so his body could ever get the relief of it, just enough to attract the Alphas and make them go crazy with lust, taking the violence of the rut that heat inspired out on Peter. It helped his Alpha earn even more because Peter wasn’t a pregnancy risk. He had no working time lost to birthing pups nor expense to eliminate them. Peter was in constant demand and his Alpha’s best earner.

Peter accepted it willingly but fought back fiercely the one time his Alpha refused to let him go see Morgan. At weapon point, a sharp knife in Peter’s hand, the Alpha agreed. He stuck by the agreement as long as Peter obeyed him in every regard except on the days he went to see Morgan. That meant taking as many clients as the Alpha sent and having no objection to _ anything _the client desired. In exchange, Peter’s Alpha always gave him bus fare to get to Morgan’s foster family’s home and back. Even though he was only allowed a few hours per week with his daughter, Peter kept those hours. He still held out hope that one day the small share of his earnings he was allowed to keep would be enough to get a home for them. Of course his Alpha made sure it never was.

Morgan was five when Peter noticed the bruises. He noticed how much more desperately she clung to him. How she fought to let go when it was time. How the following week the fading bruises were joined by fresh. How appointments were often cancelled without explanation when Peter arrived. Morgan began to regress. She grew quiet, her phrases more simple, her words more basic. Peter’s questions about her care were dismissed by both the foster family and by CPS. What was the word of a prostitute Omega as opposed to a fine foster family with an impeccable record? If Peter made too much of a fuss, the foster family refused to let him visit.

Peter stopped making a fuss. He simply took care of Morgan when he was allowed to, offering her comfort and love and acceptance. Giving her a few hours peace in his arms every week. At six, he tried offering himself as a substitute for the foster parents’ abuse, if only they’d leave Morgan alone. They took offense at what he was implying and once again threatened to suspend his visits. He didn’t complain any more. Not even when she stopped speaking entirely and began sucking her thumb. He held her and rocked her and sang her songs he sang when she was the age she was seeming to be. 

When Peter was working, even things like pen and paper were difficult to come by, much less envelopes and postage. He managed it though. He wrote letter after letter to Tony. He gave the street names where he could be found working. He told Tony about their daughter and the circumstances she was in. He told him how bright she had been, how much she reminded Peter of him. Despite sending more than a dozen letters, no answer came. No one drove by in a fancy car. None of Tony’s employees or security came either. 

Peter finally left Queens and took the subway into Manhattan. He waited, trying to avoid the Tower’s security who moved him along when he got too close to the front door. He kept running into problems because the scent of an Omega in near perpetual heat attracted the worst sort, even in ritzy Midtown Manhattan. But after each time he left to satisfy some Alpha, he went back to the Tower, waiting to run into Tony. He knew it was unlikely. He remembered the private garage, the private elevator, the private entrance. Tony rarely used the front door. But he did occasionally if where he was headed wasn’t far. Peter wanted to be there when it happened. The only good thing about staying in Manhattan and only going into Queens to visit Morgan, was that he’d broken free of his pimp and was working for himself now. Within a month, the perpetual heat drugs wore off and things were easier. The tricks he turned were simple. Rich Alphas slumming for a blowjob or quick fuck from a still passably pretty, and cheap, Omega. 

Tony didn’t recognize him when Peter pressed a letter into the man’s hand. Security was on him in a minute, pulling him away. Tony looked distastefully at the page. Peter knew he hated being handed things. Tony passed the letter back to the assistant who was following him. Peter watched the assistant dump it into the first trash can she encountered.

He tried twice more, each time with worse results. Security knew what he looked like by then. Peter observed when Tony was likely to head out the front door. He liked to take some of his dates to a club just a block away. Peter waited outside the club instead of outside the heavily guarded Tower. When Tony stepped out with his pretty Omega date, Peter threw himself flat on the ground and clutched at the man’s ankles in supplication.

“Prime, please!” Peter begged.

Tony stopped. The club’s security rushed out the door and pulled Peter to his feet.

“Please, Prime. Please Tony!”

“Peter?” Tony recognized his voice if not his appearance.

Peter cried as he was being dragged away.

“Wait. I know him.” Tony pulled the security guard off of Peter.

“What’s… Peter, it’s been… god, how long?”

“Seven years, Tony. She’s six.”

Tony frowned in distaste. “Not my problem. I told you that.”

“Please listen! Please. Just listen. They’re hurting her. She’s yours and they’re hurting her.”

Tony waved his date away dismissively, who spat back very un-Omega-like words about _ what _ he was being dumped for.

“I’m not having this conversation in the street Peter.”

“I tried writing you.”

“You know I don’t read mail, much less paper mail. Wait. That was you my security dragged away last week?”

Peter nodded. “Tony, I don’t care what happens to me. But Morgan… oh god Tony, if you could’ve seen her before. She read before she was three. We’d build things together. It was like she was you. Brilliant.”

“Come upstairs. I really don’t want to have this conversation in front of the morning papers.”

Peter followed discreetly behind. When they got to the Tower, Tony told the guard to bring Peter up through the rear entrance so any press following him wouldn’t see. Peter couldn’t have cared less if he had to climb every one of the seventy three flights of stairs to the penthouse. A service elevator was nothing. Tony was waiting for him.

“I told you Peter, I don’t have a child. This is your problem. What happened?”

Peter didn’t know where to begin. “When she got sick, I lost my job. CPS took her over a year ago and put her with a foster family. They’ve been… oh god I don’t even want to think about what they’re doing to her. They’ve been abusing her. Bruises at first but now… worse. Sometimes they won’t let me see her for weeks. She’s…” Peter’s tears were flowing freely. He couldn’t speak. Tony brought him a glass of water. “She was so beautiful. Perfect. So smart Tony. Absolutely brilliant. She looks just like you, but with my eyes. I’m not asking you to raise her or take care of her or even claim her as your child. But could you make sure she’s safe? Taken care of? Not hurt anymore at least?” He started sobbing. “They’ve hurt her so bad.”

“Peter, baby, I don’t understand. What happened to your aunt?”

“Cancer. Before Morgan was born,” Peter explained, his words broken by sobs.

“I’m sorry baby. But you had a good job. I asked them to rehire you.”

“They did. And things were okay. Even after I almost died giving birth to her. They let me have pregnancy leave.”

“Almost died?”

Peter nodded. “I couldn’t go to the hospital because of May’s bills. I had Morgan at home. My friends helped, but I hemorrhaged. I can’t…” His words broke again. “I can’t have any more children. But I don’t care. Morgan’s perfect. And we were okay until she got sick. I don’t know what it was because I couldn’t take her to the doctor. It was a fever and she almost died. I had to be at home with her for too long. The shop let me go. After that, it was just waiting for the eviction notice to be served and for someone to report me and Morgan.”

“That was when?”

“A year ago? Almost two I think. She was four. She’s six now.”

“What school is she in?”

Peter shook his head. “She isn’t.”

“Wait, is she an Alpha?”

He shook his head again. “Omega like me. I’m sorry I didn’t have an Alpha. You don’t have to take care of her. I know you don’t want a child.”

“Wait baby. This is… it’s a lot to take in. Where is she staying?”

Peter gave him the address and the name of the foster family.

“Okay. I can do something about that. We’ll sort the rest in the morning, okay baby?”

Peter nodded. “Thank you Alpha.”

Tony called Happy and his personal security team. He sent them to pick up Morgan.

Peter met her at the elevator and scooped her up in his arms, letting her curl up into a fetal position as he held her.

Tony frowned. “She doesn’t look…”

“She’s regressed from the trauma. They hurt her so bad.” He tried to hide his tears from her, burying his face into her hair. “Shh babydoll. I’ve got you.” Peter began singing to her and she uncurled a little, sitting in Peter’s lap.

Tony gulped, his face pinched, fighting tears of his own. “I’m sorry baby. I had no idea.”

“It’s okay. We’re not your problem. Shh. You’re going to stay here and Prime Stark will make sure you’re safe.” Peter looked up at Tony. “You can do that? I don’t care where you find to put her, so long as she’s cared for and safe. Will you do that? Please?”

Tony nodded. Peter stood and helped Morgan stand, holding onto the chair. “I don’t know when I’ll be able to see you babydoll. But no one will hurt you here.” He headed to the service elevator. “Thank you Tony.”

“Wait baby, where are you going?”

“I just came for Morgan. I’m okay.”

“You are not okay baby. Besides, she needs you.”

“If I’m not here, she’ll settle in better wherever you send her.”

“Peter, stop.”

“Yes Prime,” Peter flinched and responded to the command in Tony’s voice.

“You need to stay with your daughter.”

“Our d…” Peter stopped himself. “Yes Prime.” Peter went to Morgan and lifted her up.

“Does she speak?”

Peter shook his head. “Not anymore. Not for the past…” He thought. “Two months? Maybe three?” He nestled Morgan’s head against his shoulder and stroked her back.

“Baby,” Tony walked over and petted Peter’s head. “What about you?”

“I’m fine Tony. Now that she’ll be safe, I’m fine.” He tried not to lean into the touch. Or notice that Tony had been calling him ‘baby’, like he used to, for some time now.

“Do you remember where the guest room is?” Peter nodded. “Go settle in there baby. Clean yourselves up. I’ll get some clothes for you. I don’t have anything for her, but maybe she’ll fit in a t-shirt or something. What does she eat? Not much from the look of it.”

“Kid stuff. Mac and cheese, spaghetti, nuggets, pizza. Junk. And carrots. She loved carrots so much as a baby that her nose turned orange. Literally orange.” Peter laughed. “Scared me half to death until I remembered. Beta carotene. Perfectly normal.”

“I’ll fix something.”

“You cook? Since when?”

Tony laughed. “Since Louis, my cook, leaves me meals I can stick in the microwave. I do still make a mean bolognese but that’s an all day thing, remember?”

Peter nodded. The memories were threatening to overwhelm him. 

“Go on, baby.”

“Thank you Alpha.”

Peter gave Morgan a bath in the tub. It was the first time he’d been able to catalogue all her injuries. There were many. Burns, cuts, bruises in various states of healing. A rib that didn’t quite feel right. A knot of bone in her arm. He cried while she played with his hair. He wrapped a big towel around her, told her to sit on the floor by the sink and wait while he showered. While Peter was showering, the guest room door opened. Morgan ran from the bathroom and slipped under the bed so fast Tony could barely make out a blur.

“I brought some clothes,” he said stepping into the bathroom and laying them on the counter. “Baby, what’s…” Tony took in the state of Peter’s body. It’s own abuse written on his skin.

“Oh.” He paused. “I’m willing to pay for our care, of course. Morgan will be fine in here on her own for a little while.”

“Baby, no.”

Peter, still naked and wet from the shower, dropped to his knees and bowed his head. “I’m sorry, Alpha. I’m not what you remembered. Of course I’m not suitable for you.”

Tony swallowed hard. “Stand up, Peter. Get dressed. Dress Morgan. There’s food on the table.”

“Thank you Alpha.”

Tony’s clothes were huge on him. He tried to hold the jeans up by tying the hem of his t-shirt through the belt loops on either side. One of the other t-shirts he was able to tie into a little dress for Morgan. He picked her up and nestled her against him again. He waited by the table for permission to sit. It took Tony a few moments to realize that’s what Peter was doing.

“Baby, you don’t have to act like this around me. I don’t expect it and if you remember, I don’t much care for it.”

“Yes Al… Tony. May we eat?”

“Yes, baby. As much as either of you want. If you don’t like this, I’ll call downstairs and wake Louis to get him to fix whatever you like.”

“This will be fine, Tony.” He said the name as if it was the ‘Alpha’ that was expected of him.

“Baby, what happened to you?”

“Nothing, Tony. I’m fine.” Peter cut the food into little bites and hand fed them to Morgan, not eating himself.

“Now that she’s clean, she does look like me,” Tony said smiling. “With your eyes.” Tony stood. “Eat whatever you want baby. If you want more, get it from the fridge. I’ve got calls to make. I’ll call the doctor to come see you both in the morning. When you’re done, go on to the guest room and get some rest. Baby?” He paused. “It locks from the inside.”

Peter flinched and then nodded. “Thank you Tony. She’ll feel safer that way.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of love. Of damage. Of new beginnings.   
Of _baby_ and of _doll_.

Peter was careful not to overfeed Morgan or himself. They weren’t used to either eating well or that kind of food; he knew it could make them sick. He did grab two bottles of water from the fridge and then went to the guest room, locking it, from the inside.

It was noon before he woke to a soft knock on the door. Morgan dove for under the bed.

“Baby?” Tony said softly. “When you’re ready, the doctor’s here. He’d like to look at you and Morgan. In there in private is okay.”

Peter brought Morgan out into the living room. “People not being in her room will make her feel safer. Like no one can hurt her in there.”

“My word! You’re Peter?” The doctor looked him up and down incredulously. “And this must be the pup you whelped.”

“The _ child _ I gave _ birth _to,” Peter said hotly.

The doctor rolled his eyes. “I never understood your fascination with non-trads, Prime Stark.”

“Because I get tired of all that Prime bullshit, doc. I have a fucking name that my Omega mother gave to me. Not my Prime father. He couldn’t be bothered to show up. My mother named me Tony. But you can simply call me sir. Or Mister Stark. Whatever satisfies your fucking traditionalism sufficiently.”

“If you’ll allow me to examine your child Mister Stark?” The doctor held out his hand to take Morgan from Peter. Peter held her closer.

“With me present and holding her. And you’ll be fucking gentle,” Peter said. “She’s been hurt. She doesn’t understand what’s happening to her.”

“Is she a mental deficient Mister Stark?”

“No Doctor Fuckhead, like Peter said, she’s been hurt.” The doctor bristled, but he was a Beta and Tony was a Prime Alpha. Tony could call him whatever he pleased.

The doctor examined Morgan, stripping her of her makeshift dress. She whimpered and cried and held on to Peter tightly.

“How long have you been abusing the Prime’s pup, Omega?” the doctor said sternly.

Peter felt like the air had been knocked out of him. “I…”

“All right. You’re gone.” Tony grabbed the doctor by the collar and dragged him to the elevator. Peter had curled up on the sofa with Morgan wrapped in his arms. “I’m sorry baby. I’ll find someone better.”

Peter was crying, scrambling to pull Morgan’s t-shirt/dress back on her. He ran down the hall and locked the door to the guest room behind him.

“Baby?” It sounded like Tony was sitting on the floor outside the door. “If you think that you and Morgan aren’t in any immediate danger, the doctor can wait. I know an Omega doctor in Seoul. I’ll have her flown in first thing.”

Peter nodded, then realized Tony couldn’t see him. “Thank you Tony.”

“I’ll have Louis leave you a breakfast tray outside the door. You come out when and if you want to.”

About a half hour later, there was a knock on the door. Peter didn’t answer until he heard the tray being set down and footsteps walking away. He hand fed Morgan again and they fell asleep until another knock and another tray was left. It went that way for three days.

“Baby? Doctor Cho, the Omega doctor, is here. Is it okay if she comes in your room?”

Peter opened the door. He smiled at Tony. His eyes were red-rimmed and hollow. He locked the door behind the doctor. She asked questions in a soft voice of both Morgan and Peter. She let Morgan scent her so she could tell she was non-threatening. Alone, safe, Morgan smiled. She still stayed close to Peter, always keeping some part of her touching him. When Morgan’s exam was finished, the doctor tried to examine Peter, only to be told he was okay. With him, she was a bit firmer. She wanted a full medical history, at least from the time of Morgan’s prenatal care. Peter was fine explaining all of that, but when it came to answering what happened after Morgan was taken away from him, he avoided answering. The doctor proposed the likely things that could’ve happened to him. Peter nodded or shook his head. And still kept insisting that he was fine.

When Doctor Cho left the room, Peter listened for the footsteps walking away. They didn’t. Instead he heard two people sit on the floor outside the door. He sat on his side of the door.

“What happened to my baby,” Tony asked, his voice broke.

The doctor started explaining what happened to Morgan.

“No.”

“Ah.” She started explaining what Peter had been through with the birth and after, in exhaustive detail. Peter cried listening to it, unable to deny it had happened, hearing it so plainly catalogued.

“And Morgan?” She explained that as well. They sat outside the guest room door for over an hour, with the doctor going over everything.

Peter heard one set of footsteps walk away. Then heard Tony scooting closer to the door and heard his head rest against it.

“I didn’t know, baby. I’m sorry. I thought you were okay. That you were living with May. I never thought to check.”

“It’s okay, Tony,” Peter said quietly. “You gave me a choice and I made it. It’s not your fault.”

“It was a shit choice, baby.”

“You still don’t want to be a father. That’s okay. I’m not asking you to be. Or to take care of me. Just her. Please promise me. I’ll never ask anything else of you ever again.”

“Do you know why I didn’t want to claim you?”

“Yeah. You weren’t in love with me. It’s okay. It wasn’t supposed to be that. Just casual. This wasn’t supposed to happen. It was an accident and I decided.”

“Baby, you don’t know.”

“Don’t know what?” Peter asked.

“Why.” They were both crying softly.

“Why Tony?”

“Because I love you. I wanted you to love me. Not be… I don’t know… enthralled, enslaved. Like my mother was to my father. To endure… to welcome the way he treated her. She couldn’t resist it. She…” He heard Tony’s voice shake and heard him sniffling back tears. “She couldn’t protect… She couldn’t do for me what you do for Morgan. I’m afraid the claim will turn me into him. That I won’t be able to fight my own biological imperative to hurt you. To hurt you both.” Tony paused for a long time. “I hurt you both anyway.”

“I love you Tony.”

“I love you baby.”

“Morgan’s in my lap.”

“Hello Morgan. That’s okay, you don’t have to talk. I…” Tony’s voice broke again. “I love you Morgan.”

“It’ll take her time. She’s scared of anyone not an Omega I think. They were an Alpha/Beta pair. Helen said she’d leave you an order for some medicine for her?”

“Already sent Happy for it. Doctor Cho left something for you as well. Heat suppressants, antibiotics, something for…” Tony had trouble describing all the different things Peter had been prescribed for nightmares, anxiety, PTSD, and all the other diseases that someone who did the things Peter had done picked up.

“I’m fine,” Peter said, so Tony didn’t have to continue the list.

“No, you’re not fine baby.”

“I have to be. I have to take care of her.”

“Okay baby. You’re fine. When she’s getting better then you can be not fine, all right?”

“Okay Tony.”

“You’ll take your medicine too, even though you’re fine?”

Peter sniffled and chuckled. “Yes Tony.”

“I’ve given Doctor Cho a grant. She’ll be working in New York as soon as she can move. You and Morgan won’t have to get used to anyone else.”

“You don’t have to do all this, Tony.”

“I fucked up, baby. I’m not asking you to do anything. Let me do this for you please. Then if you want, I can put you in your own place. Or you can stay here. It’s your decision baby.”

“Is here okay?”

“Yes baby.”

“I mean here in this room here. Not anyplace else here. Not for awhile anyway.”

“Wherever whenever. Even if that’s never.”

“It won’t be… never. Just… awhile.”

“Okay.”

“Tony?”

“Yes baby?”

“I know you’re going to hurt them.” Peter paused. “I don’t mind.”

“That’s good baby. Do you want to rest or should I send a tray?”

“Food first, then rest. I think she’s hungry. She’s gnawing on my shirt.”

“There’ll be clothes outside the door tomorrow.”

“Tony?”

“Yes baby?”

“I never stopped loving you.”

“Me either baby.”

Doctor Cho said it takes at least twice as long to heal as it did to hurt. It was longer for Morgan, shorter for Peter. Peter had a concept of what happened to him. He could categorize it and start from a point of conscious awareness that none of it was his fault. Plus he already knew how to love Tony and how to take comfort from him. Morgan had no idea what had happened to her. It all seemed to be her fault. None of it made sense. It was random and meaningless and she believed that it could happen again at any time without warning. She only knew how to take comfort from Peter. It took her a long time to even be out from under the bed whenever Tony was around. Longer to be at any kind of ease when Peter would bring her out of the guest room. Tony somehow found an infinite wellspring of patience. Peter was certain that, any time now, Tony would tire of playing family, tire of the struggle, the rejection, the fits and nightmares and tears. He never did.

It helped Morgan to see Peter trusting Tony. Once she started to come out of the guest room, Peter set up a play spot in the living room. It had a brightly colored rug that delimited her safe area. It was across the room, far enough away from where Tony and Peter sat on the sofa. Tony never approached her spot without Peter there, even then he hung back behind Peter, deferring to him. 

Tony bought a pleasant scented cologne and put it on as soon as he got home to mask his Prime Alpha scent. He kept his voice low and soft at all times. Even when on the phone in another room, even when the person on the other end was driving him crazy. If the situation required him using his Alpha demeanor, he put the call on hold, went down the elevator to his office and handled it from there. 

Morgan’s few smiles came when she thought no one was watching her. When she was observing Peter and Tony together. Neither of them made a fuss over her smiles but responded casually in kind. Morgan was seven before Tony was allowed to sit on the floor near her, as long as he was off the edge of her rug and as long as Peter was there too. Tony waited. It was almost two more months before Tony was allowed to sit on, but at the far edge of, her rug, sometimes by himself if he didn’t look directly at her.

Tony came home smiling one evening. He sat at the edge of her play area and spoke to Morgan gently, but without going through Peter first. Morgan looked up and went back to playing. She smiled at the toy but kept looking up from under her lashes, smiling at Tony.

“More,” he said and moved his hand. “Food.” He moved his hand differently. “Drink.” Another movement. “Yes. No. Sleep. Doll. Lego. Bear.” Tony ran through every toy in her area. Each word had its own gesture. “Mommy.” The sign was accompanied by pointing to Peter. “Daddy.” He pointed to himself and made a sign. 

The designations weren’t correct, but he and Peter decided they preferred the Beta parent words, one for the child bearer, the other for the one who made the child bearer pregnant. Amongst Alphas and Omegas things were very different. A child was expected to refer to the Alpha parent as Alpha, with the same level of respect, fear, and subjugation as everyone else. The Omega parent was called Omega, Oma, or by whatever name — good or bad — the Alpha demanded his Omega be called, all with the corresponding lack of respect and dismissiveness. 

“What are you doing?” Peter asked.

Tony looked over his shoulder and grinned. “My friend Clint taught me. He sometimes uses sign language because he’s deaf. For children, it’s called baby sign. It helps for concepts they know but don’t have words for. Clint says Morgan has selective mutism. She hears us but she’s blocked her speech processing. She was probably punished for making noise or requesting things or speaking out of turn. She still remembers the concepts you taught her, she just can’t say them.”

Peter dropped down to the rug making a triangle with Morgan and Tony at the far ends, being a bridge between them. “Teach me.”

Tony ran through the words and signs again. “I don’t know many signs yet. I wanted to invite Clint over.”

“I’m not sure how she’ll do with a new person.”

“Clint and his wife are both Omegas and they have three children.”

“How?”

“A mutual friend of ours donated for the impregnation. Natasha. She’s an Alpha but non-trad as well. She and her Omega husband, Bruce, are unofficially married without a claim. He’s infertile and for her, the donation required a doctor’s help. Neither of them want children of their own. They’re happy being aunt and uncle to Clint’s kids.”

“I had no idea there were so many non-trads out there.”

“It’s hard to find an Omega who is. The conditioning starts so young and they’re not allowed to break it. Hard to break when some sixty year old Alpha claims an Omega who can be as young as twelve. If an Alpha decides he wants to go non-trad he simply does.”

“That makes sen… Tony look.”

Morgan was signing _ drink _ while looking at Tony. He got up, filled a sip cup with juice and handed it to Peter. Peter set it on the floor in front of Morgan. She frowned and refused to pick it up. She signed _ drink _again.

“Morgan, did you forget a sign?”

She sighed and scrunched her face in thought. _ Daddy drink _, she signed correctly.

“Okay baby.”

Morgan huffed. She pointed to Peter and then to herself. She signed _ daddy drink _ again.

“Is mommy baby?” Tony asked. “Who are you then?”

Morgan thought for a long time before she made the sign _ doll_.

“Are you my doll?”

Peter laughed. “I used to call her babydoll. If I’m ‘baby’ to you, she’s ‘doll’.”

Tony stretched out on his stomach across the rug, putting himself at a lower position to Morgan. He took the sip cup and held it out to her in his hands. She did it quickly, but she rocked forward, grabbed the cup, then rocked back but not away.

Tony rolled over and put his head in Peter’s lap. 

“You realize that one breakthrough might lead to more setbacks,” Peter cautioned, threading his fingers through Tony’s hair.

“Don’t care. She wants me to call her doll.” Tony grinned. “It happened. Even if tomorrow she runs under the bed again, it happened.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some fuzzy timelines. Sorry.
> 
> About Morgan's progress, then back in time a bit to talk about Peter's progress, and then forward again as Peter's and Morgan's timelines merge again. Each jump is separated by a ~~~.

Morgan used her sign regularly after that. Clint taught her more words. His children sat and played with her, signing instead of talking at all. She started being comfortable going to and from the guest room, the living room, and the dining room by herself as long as she could see Peter. Not often, but sometimes she would sit near the sofa, instead of in front of the screen, and watch TV while Peter and Tony did. She sat at the very far end of the sofa, on the floor, but she almost always sat at Tony’s end.

Three times a week she saw doctors. Each of them was an Omega. There was Doctor Cho, but there was also a speech therapist, a physical therapist, and a psychiatrist. All of them were taught to sign and not pressure her to speak, even the speech therapist.

Morgan was almost eight before she said her first word. Peter was only slightly miffed that it was _ daddy_. Tony reassured Peter that he was such a constant in her life that she didn’t need a word for him. Morgan still wouldn’t let Tony touch her or hold her, but she waited near the elevator every day for him to come home. After the first time he noticed, he came home every day at the same time, regardless of what else he was doing, even if he had to leave again later. 

After the first word broke it was impossible to shut her up and no one tried. She even spoke along with the children’s shows she watched. Peter put the captions on and left them on everything anyone watched. Morgan re-taught herself to read. They discussed whether a tutor should be brought in for her, but Peter said that until she went past what he could teach her, he’d rather home-school on his own. 

Tony looked at Peter. “Would you like to go back to Columbia?”

“I can’t leave her alone.”

“You wouldn’t be. One class each semester. I can be home with Morgan.”

“She won’t let you touch her.”

“Would I have to? She’s using the bathroom on her own. She lets me be near her so I can watch her and feed her. You’ll be home in time to give her a bath and put her to bed.”

“What if she has separation anxiety?”

“Then we wait. But we won’t know until we try. Baby, I know you wanted to go to school.”

“I’m…” Peter looked down at his hands, lowering his head. “I’m not sure if I can leave the penthouse.” He paused. “I’m afraid to.” He hadn’t left since he and Morgan arrived. He went outside, but only on the roof garden. He never went out of the building. 

Tony pulled Peter into his arm. “Do you want to go out?” Peter buried his face against Tony’s chest and nodded. Tony bit his lips and petted Peter’s back. He took a deep breath. “Are you fine baby?”

Peter cried softly, his tears dampening Tony’s shirt. “No Tony.”

Crying as well, Tony kissed the top of Peter’s head. “It’s okay baby. You can be not fine now.”

Morgan turned away from the TV and watched Peter and Tony, her face critical as she tried to figure out if it was Tony who made her mommy cry. But he was crying too. She got up, sat on the floor between their feet, leaned against both their legs, and went back to watching TV.

The next morning Peter began seeing his own doctors.

~~~

It only took a few months after he and Morgan arrived before Peter let Tony touch him and he touched Tony in return. He gave Tony light kisses after Morgan stopped reacting with fear whenever she saw Tony touch Peter. Once Morgan accepted that, Peter would sit close to Tony, nestled against him, in the evenings while they watched TV. Peter knew that was a habit Tony didn’t care for, but it was a time when they could all be together in the same room and not have any bad reactions. Peter started to let Tony give him light kisses instead of him initiating them. Every increase in their affection was tied to Morgan’s acceptance of it, even when Peter began craving more himself.

Tony had infinite patience when it came to Peter too. Tolerating that one day Peter might be willing to accept a longer kiss from him and another he might not want to be touched at all. When Peter finally curled up in his lap one evening it terrified him. He was afraid of doing something wrong and turning Peter skittish again. He sat perfectly still until Peter looked up at him and smiled softly. When Peter turned back to watch TV, hesitantly at first, Tony began running his fingers through Peter’s hair. Feeling Peter relax into his touch was almost overwhelming. He thought Peter would never feel comfortable with him again.

Morgan still wasn’t talking but was sleeping through the night without nightmares, when Peter knocked on Tony’s bedroom door. He was fully clothed, not even in sleep clothes, when Tony let him into the room. Peter didn’t say anything, but looked up at Tony and crawled into his bed, curling up close to the edge. Tony stayed on his side of the bed and watched Peter sleep. 

A long while passed before one night Peter showed up in soft sleep pants. He went to Tony’s dressing room and still remembered where his shirts were kept. He came back to the bed wearing one of Tony’s very worn MIT sweatshirts. The same one he used to wear when they slept together before. Peter slept on his other side that night, facing Tony, still close to the edge. But he reached his hand out and let Tony touch his fingers before falling asleep.

Once he’d reassured himself that Tony wouldn’t do anything in bed that he didn’t want him to do, they slept closer together, until Peter was sleeping curled up on Tony’s chest almost every night. He asked Tony to set an early alarm, for when it was still dark, so he could be back in Morgan’s room before she woke up. One time he and Tony both slept past the alarm, only to be woken by FRIDAY’s alert telling them that Morgan had left her room and was playing on her rug quietly. Peter got up and started fixing breakfast.

Louis the cook was let go once Morgan began leaving her room on her own. It disturbed her to find the young Beta man in the penthouse. Peter enjoyed cooking and taking care of the house himself. Tony did know how to cook a few more things other than spaghetti sauce, despite denying it. When he was young, he used to hide in the kitchen with their butler, Jarvis. Given reason now not to rely on staff, he found that he remembered more of Jarvis’ recipes than he thought he had.

They should’ve both realized the signs that one of Morgan’s breakthroughs were coming. But she hid the way she watched them interacting, moving around each other more comfortably now. They were so used to Morgan sitting on her rug playing, that they missed it. She nearly scared Peter to death when he turned around in the kitchen and found Morgan sitting quietly at the end of the counter, watching him and Tony cook. Peter didn’t move her because he didn’t want her to think she’d done something wrong, but they moved more carefully in the kitchen after that as well as doing a bit more childproofing than had been done when Morgan never went in there.

Once Morgan began talking, Peter looked up from where he was laying on Tony’s chest in bed. He bit his lips, looked like he wanted to say something, didn’t, and then lay back down to go to sleep.

“Baby?”

“Yes Tony?”

“Whatever you want, whenever you want it, and only whatever you want, nothing more.” Tony felt his chest wet with Peter’s tears.

“Okay Tony.”

The next night, Peter looked up at him again. “Can… you kiss me?”

It took Tony a minute to figure it out because they had been kissing goodnight for awhile by then. “As opposed to you kissing me?” he asked.

“Um hmm. If you want to. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

Tony lifted Peter’s chin. He kissed Peter softly, slightly open mouthed but not intrusive. He kept his hand on Peter’s back and not on his neck or head so Peter could break the kiss whenever he wanted to. Peter darted his tongue quickly into Tony’s mouth and was met with exactly the same level of intensity, no more. Peter let Tony kiss him for a lot longer than he’d expected. “Baby,” Tony sighed the name against the top of Peter’s head when the boy nestled in for sleep finally. 

“Tony?” Peter asked a couple of weeks after gentle makeout sessions became part of their night time routine.

“Yes baby?”

“I don’t know if… Is it okay if…” Peter was biting his lips again. Tony wasn’t sure exactly what it was Peter was leading to, so he waited. “Is it okay if I don’t want to go into heat again? Maybe ever?”

“Yes baby. If Helen says you need to — sometimes on heat suppressants you need to have them once in awhile to keep from getting sick — I’ll make sure you’re safe.”

Peter cried softly. “I don’t want to. Not even then.”

“Baby, tell Helen okay? Tell her so she can get you on the right suppressants, okay? I don’t mind if you never go into heat again, I just don’t want you to get sick.”

“Okay Tony.” 

Their next discussion wasn’t until after Peter admitted that he wasn’t ‘fine’. 

“Is it okay if I don’t want you to knot me?” Peter said against Tony’s chest, unable to look up at him. “I never knew that could hurt,” he whispered so softly Tony had to struggle to hear.

He knew very well the many ways an uncaring Alpha could hurt an Omega with his knot. He remembered hearing his mother’s screams from the bedroom, followed by her pleading to be hurt again. Tony wanted to painfully take apart every Alpha who’d ever done such a thing to Peter. The same way he’d already painfully taken apart the Alpha who put Peter to such work. He kept his voice calm, his touch on Peter’s back gentle. “Yes baby. It’s okay.”

“Can you…” Peter’s voice dropped to a whisper again. “Can you make the other not hurt?”

“Yes baby. When you’re ready. I won’t ever hurt you.”

Another night, Peter slid down the bed. He rested his head on Tony’s hip. Tony didn’t think anything of it. Peter often liked to rest his head where Tony’s scent was the strongest. It wasn’t until Peter leaned over and started to pull Tony’s sweatpants down that he slowly lifted Peter back up to rest in his arm.

“Baby?”

“Yes Tony?”

“Is it okay if I don’t want you to do that for awhile yet?” His reaction surprised him. He’d been willing to go along with whatever Peter desired.

“You don’t want me?”

“I do. Very much. Someday that’ll be fine but…” It was Tony’s turn to bite his lips, holding something in. “I’m not them, baby.”

“You don’t want me to do what I did for them?” Peter asked, uncertain.

“That’s not it baby. I… I don’t want you to be up in your head when you do.” Tony paused. “I won’t ever hurt you baby. I don’t want you to hurt yourself either.” 

“Okay Tony.”

~~~

Morgan sometimes let Tony hold her hand. She would climb onto the sofa next to him when Peter was at class. But things were at a standstill with her. A pleasant standstill, but stagnant. Morgan would get easily irritated. Not at anyone or anything, just irritated for no apparent reason. Either she couldn’t remember the right word or a TV show wasn’t moving fast enough or there was a toy she was trying to make do something it wasn’t designed to do. Something in her world just wasn't right in a way she couldn't explain. She’d fight against the meltdown she could feel coming and that only made it worse. Tony was home with her alone on one of Peter’s class nights. He could see it coming before she did. Her posture changed. She was blinking faster.

“Doll?”

“Yes daddy?”

“I need some help with something downstairs. Can I show you?”

Morgan wasn’t ever allowed downstairs. There was a gate across the top of the spiral staircase and it wouldn’t open when she tried, even though Tony and Peter had no trouble opening it when they touched their finger to the glowing blue square.

Tony held out his hand and Morgan slid hers into his and followed him. He opened the gate and led the way. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I’ll just be down here, if you need me.” He left the gate open.

It took awhile, but Tony noticed her sitting on the steps, watching him. He reached over and picked up a big metal box. He started to take the screws off to open the lid. He held up the screwdriver. “This one’s called a Phillips head screwdriver. It opens the screws with the x on top. These screws,” he turned the box around so he could get to the other side of the top, “have a straight line across them. They take a flathead screwdriver.” Morgan was standing on the floor by the stairs. “This isn’t a screw at all, it’s a nut. It takes a wrench to get it off. Those are the long metal bars that are open at the end like a U. Would you hand me the one that has a 1 and a 2 on it?” She didn’t move. “It’s on the table by DUM-E. The yellow robot.” The bot whistled and Morgan jumped. “It’s okay. DUM-E won’t hurt you. I built him when I was little. No one I build would ever hurt you doll. The U shaped wrench with the 1 and 2.” Tony didn’t look at Morgan, he just held his hand out.

“It has a line on it.”

“A line?”

“Between the 1 and 2.”

“Oh. That means one half. That’s the right one.”

“Whatcha doing?”

“Opening this box doll.”

Morgan put the wrench in Tony’s outstretched hand. “What’s inside the box?”

“Another box,” Tony said smiling as he took the nut off the bolt. “See? Only it’s so far inside, the wrench won’t get the nut off. I need a socket and a handle. They’re in the third drawer in the black tool chest, doll.”

Morgan stared at the tools in the drawer. “This is a handle.” It wasn’t a question. “One half?”

“Um hmm doll. They’re the same size.”

Morgan went back to Tony and looked at the box inside the box. “This is one half but won’t fit.” It was a short socket that wouldn’t reach far enough down into the box. “This one will.” She brought him the extended socket. “What’s in that box?”

“Another box doll.”

Morgan laughed. “How many boxes did you lose, daddy?”

“Four of them.” Tony sat the big open box with the smaller open box inside on the floor. “The first two are open.” He picked up a different project on the workbench.

“These nuts are smaller.”

“Um hmm.”

Morgan dragged the box over to the tool chest and started trying different sockets on them. “How do you get the one half off the handle daddy? This needs a…” she looked at the number on the socket she’d fitted to the smaller nut. “One one six.” She frowned. “One sixteen. It’s small.”

“One sixteenth. There’s a button on the back of the handle, doll. Press that and you can change the socket.”

She pressed the button, the socket came loose and skittered across the floor. “I’m sorry daddy!” she said, suddenly frightened. DUM-E whirred and beeped, picked up the wayward socket up and held it out towards Morgan. Watching the bot chased away her fear because she had something fascinating to focus on. “Thank you DUM-E,” she said, accepting the socket as the bot dropped it into her hand. Morgan opened the third box then walked to Tony’s workbench and picked up the screwdriver with the x on it. She opened the fourth box. “Daddy, you didn’t count right.”

“Oh?”

“There’s another box.”

“Is there?”

Morgan took the last thing out and examined it. “This box has no way to get into it.”

“Is it a box doll?”

“It’s a square.”

“How many squares?”

“Six.”

“Six squares like that is called a cube.”

“It’s not a box it’s a cube.” She climbed up onto the stool next to Tony. “What’s that daddy?”

“It’s a light, doll. It’s missing parts though.”

When Peter came back from class, he panicked. Morgan wasn’t playing. Tony wasn’t on the sofa watching TV with her. She wasn’t in the guest room.

“Down here baby,” Tony called up from the workshop.

“I made the light come on, mommy,” Morgan said excitedly, showing Peter how she hooked the wires up to the battery.

“Yes you did doll,” Tony said. He forgot himself and leaned over, wrapping an arm around Morgan’s shoulders, and kissed her on the head. She didn’t flinch. She was almost ten.

After that, Morgan began making progress at a rapid rate. With only a few remaining tics in her personality and moments where she became inexplicably afraid, she was almost a normal, amazingly intelligent, ten year old child.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of frustration, but a lot of happiness. I'm afraid I brought the tears again, but mostly tears of joy.

“Please Tony,” Peter panted, clutching at Tony’s back as they kissed, long and hot and deep.

“Please what baby?” Tony groaned. He never hesitated to stop, no matter how close he’d been, no matter how much he wanted. When Tony tried to roll away to give himself time to get under control, Peter stopped him.

“Can we…” Peter let it trail off.

“Baby what do you want?”

“You can make it not hurt?” Peter asked.

“Yes baby. I promise.”

“Do you want to fuck me?”

“Would you mind if I made love to you instead?” Tony smiled and kissed Peter again.

Peter blushed. “You’re ridiculous,” he said. “It’s the same thing.”

“Is it baby? Not that I wouldn’t like to fuck you too sometime.” Tony brought their foreheads together. “I missed you baby,” he whispered against Peter’s lips. “So if you don’t mind, I’d like to make love to you.” 

Peter rolled onto his stomach. Tony slipped his arm under Peter’s neck, gently pulling on his shoulder until he was on his side, Peter’s back snugged against Tony’s chest. Tony reached down between Peter’s legs, surprised that he was dry there.

“I don’t get… ” Peter swallowed. “It doesn’t hurt. It’s okay… After I had Morgan, and then with what happened… after it… I’m sorry. I know you don’t want to hurt me. We don’t have to.”

“Shh baby.” Sometimes if an Omega’s heat cycles were off it happened. Tony had encountered Omegas who weren’t producing much, if any, slick. He knew Peter was lying. Fucking an Omega dry hurt. Peter was just used to it. Or had been used to it. It was four years since then. “It just means we have to start out in a different position, with you on your back.”

“Yeah but…” He let Tony roll him onto his back. “I don’t get slick anymore.” He closed his eyes. “It really doesn’t hurt. I want to.”

“Baby, didn’t I promise it wouldn’t hurt?”

“Yes Tony.”

Tony kissed Peter on the shoulder. He kept one hand on Peter as he turned to get a bottle of lubricant from his nightstand drawer. “See baby?” He squirted it onto his hand and ran it between Peter’s legs. “Not gonna hurt you.”

Tony went slowly. He used an outrageous amount of lube and kissed Peter the entire time before he even put one whole finger in all the way. It took everything he had not to react to the scarring he felt inside Peter. Much as he wanted to and much as he knew Peter wanted it, he wasn’t sure if it would be possible. Even without a knot, he was well endowed and Peter was so tight. He carefully slid his finger out.

“Baby it’ll take time. More than one night,” he said softly. “I won’t hurt you. I promised you. You need to promise me.”

“What Tony?”

“If it hurts you’ll tell me the truth.” He kissed Peter again.

Peter bit his lips and nodded, tears welling in the corners of his eyes. “I want you though.”

“I know you do baby. And I want you too.”

“‘M broken,” Peter said, looking away.

“You’re not broken baby.”

“I want you!” he said frustratedly.

“Shh baby. I know you do. Not never baby, just longer, okay?” Tony carried Peter to the bathroom and set him in a tub of warm water, washing the lube away.

Tony might have infinite patience, but Peter didn’t. After the third night and still managing no more than one finger, he called Doctor Cho.

“Peter wants me to tell you,” Helen said, sitting across from Tony. Morgan was in her room with Peter. “He explained what you’ve been trying to do together.”

“I felt…” Tony’s voice broke.

“There’s a lot of scarring. Some from Morgan’s delivery and the attempts to fix that. The care he got wasn’t very good. But there’s also damage from the work he used to do.”

“I don’t mind if we never…”

“He does.”

Tony smiled wanly. “He’s stubborn. God, I know this isn’t about me. But I want to burn the whole fuckin’ thing to the ground for what they did to him. What they do to all of you.”

“That’s not going to help Peter.”

“Will anything?”

“If you can convince a surgeon to work with me — they won’t listen to an Omega — I think we can fix some of the scarring, loosen where they made him too tight after the birth, fix the way they messed up…” Helen breathed in heavily. “I don’t know if you know much about what’s inside an Omega. The opening, where we’re impregnated, where the baby comes from before birth.” She shrugged. “The details don’t really matter. Alpha doctors don’t care about an infertile Omega. It wasn’t done properly. If I can find a surgeon that gives a damn, it can be fixed.”

“You’ll have one. He’ll work with you and follow your lead or I’ll… make him wish he had.”

“I’m a neurosurgeon, Tony, not an OB/GYN,” Stephen Strange told him.

“I _ know _ that. I’m not asking you to do the surgery, I’m asking if you know any surgeon at all who’s non-trad enough to work with an Omega doctor and to listen to her. And to give a shit about my husband, even though he’s infertile.”

“You’re married?”

“Oh.” Tony laughed. “I guess I should ask him, huh?”

“Go home and ask Peter to marry you. I’ll put together a team.”

“No Tony,” Peter said when Tony asked and held out the ring he’d bought.

“I… No?”

Peter shook his head. “I can’t do that to you.”

“Do what baby? Be my husband and let me put my name on Morgan’s birth certificate?”

“I’ll let you do that.”

“But you won’t marry me.”

Peter shook his head again.

“I love you baby.”

“I don’t know if I’m ever going to…”

“Love me?”

“No, not that.”

“Baby that’s all that matters.”

“No it’s not.”

“It’s all that matters to me.”

“Even if I can’t…”

“Love me?”

Peter huffed. “No. You know what I mean.”

Tony sat on the floor cross legged between Peter’s feet. He reached up and held his hands. “Baby do you love me?” 

Peter nodded, tears running down his cheeks.

“Can you forgive me Peter?”

“Oh Tony. I forgave you a long time ago.”

“Do you not want to marry me unless I claim you?” Tony asked quietly.

Peter shook his head. “I don’t want that any more than you do.”

“I love you Peter.”

“Tony you deserve a whole life.”

“How can I have one without my baby?”

“We should wait until Doctor Cho…”

“I don’t want to wait baby. I want you to marry me.”

Peter sat there with tears falling, holding Tony’s hands, for a long time before he nodded. “Yes Tony. I want to marry you.”

The clerk of court didn’t want to give Tony a marriage license because Peter had no claiming bite. But Tony had checked with his lawyer. It wasn’t against the law because no one had ever considered that it could happen. No Alpha had ever had an official legal marriage without a claim, only unofficial marriages. The clerk adamantly explained that doing it that way would limit the control he had over his Omega. The laws in New York specified that unclaimed Omegas had certain rights. Those laws were only tied to the status of claimed, not the status of married. Without the claim, Peter would still be considered ‘free’ to make decisions about his body and his life without an Alpha’s approval.

“That’s the point,” Tony insisted. “I don’t want that control.” By the end of the day, after much argument between the clerk, Tony, and the lawyer, a marriage license was issued.

Morgan was comfortable going outside on the roof garden by then. She was wandering the penthouse, the workshop/lab, and the lower level garage and its workshop all on her own, which meant she was comfortable in the elevator. Peter was worried about how she’d react getting from the car to City Hall and then being in a big building full of people. He and Tony sat down to explain that they were getting married and they’d like Morgan to be there.

She was excited that they were getting married. She ran on and on about things she’d read about weddings. She wanted to help Peter pick out a wedding veil only to be told that they’d be getting married in regular clothes, not in the elaborate, and humiliating, clothes that traditional Omegas were married in. Morgan didn’t understand so Tony explained the difference between the way he and Peter lived, the fact that Peter was going to stay unclaimed, and that neither of them wanted anything to do with the way Alphas and Omegas were expected to act.

“Doll, if we were a traditional family, you’d hardly be able to read and write. I’d be searching for an Alpha to arrange a bond with already at your age and as soon as you present in a few years, you’d be claimed by him whether you wanted to be or not. With my status, both in society and as Prime, you would have absolutely no control over your life.” Tony could see the fear starting to rise in Morgan. “Doll, I will never do that to you. I promise. Even though I’m accepting you as my daughter and putting my name officially as your father, I swear on my life I will never do that to you.”

Morgan ran into Tony’s arms and climbed into his lap. She hugged him tightly and buried her face against his chest, crying. “I love you daddy.”

Tony held her for a long time, until the tears stopped and even after. “I’d like it if you would be at our wedding. Do you think you can leave the house? We’d both be there with you the whole time. No one will be allowed to get close to you and definitely no one would dare hurt you because I’d tear them apart if they even tried.”

Morgan smiled. “Can I bring the flowers? The girl is supposed to carry the flowers.”

“Absolutely doll. I’ll buy you a big bundle of flowers and you can carry them at the wedding.”

“Okay. As long as I get the flowers, I’ll go.”

Morgan’s arms were full of beautiful white flowers. When they got out of the car, she started peeling petals off and slowly dropping them on the ground all the way up the stairs to City Hall. Inside, she left a trail of flower petals the entire way to the justice of the peace’s office. It kept her busy and her eyes focused on her task so she wasn’t focused on all the people around her and Tony and Peter. Even though she left a huge trail of petals, there were still whole flowers in her arms when the wedding happened. After Tony and Peter kissed, she gave them each the best two flowers that she’d been saving in her bundle. Even though she was ten and a big girl, Tony carried her all the way back out to the car. The only tears that day were happy ones.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I promised you a happy ending.

Tony Stark, darling of the society pages, whose face on a magazine was guaranteed to sell thousands more copies, who never went more than a few weeks without some entertainment news program having a story about him, became a very private person. For the past four years, there was nothing. He didn’t date. He didn’t go to galas. He didn’t travel the world. Monaco never saw him, nor did Cannes. He was hardly ever seen outside of his building except on unavoidable Stark Industries business. 

There were rumors, of course. People couldn’t keep their mouths shut when it came to Tony. Clothing orders from fashionable children’s wear shops were reported made, even though neither Tony nor a child ever showed up to make the order. Everything was done online or by phone. FAO Schwarz delivered regularly. UPS drivers reported the return addresses on packages delivered to the penthouse. All sorts of domestic items. Clothing from shops catering to Omegas and to Betas. Tabloids tried to piece together a profile of who Tony was holed up with for four years. The last date Tony had reported a filthy Omega homeless person coming up to him and babbling on about a child that was Tony’s and his. But with no reliable news on the Tony Stark front, after awhile, he just dropped off the reporters’ radar.

Then suddenly, there was a press release from SI’s PR department. Very crafted pictures of a wedding. An even more crafted set of background details about Tony’s husband and daughter. Anyone who dared report something that they dug up about Peter’s past found themselves out of a job. Either because their publisher saw the error of crossing Tony Stark, or because the publication found itself under new ownership, as a subsidiary of SI. 

Details were released about exactly what their marriage entailed, since it was made without a claim. There was a statement from Tony himself about the toxic culture surrounding Alphas and Omegas. How he would be devoting a not inconsiderable amount of his wealth and resources to changing that culture. That was going to be the primary focus of his life, aside from his relationship with Peter and Morgan. 

Most shocking of all was the fact that, with the marriage, Tony changed his will and released the details of that change. Upon his death, everything he owned, including his controlling interest in Stark Industries, would belong to Peter. On _ his _death, everything would belong to Morgan and Morgan alone, even if she married an Alpha. In New York, Omegas could own property, but no one thought it would ever be much more than a car or perhaps a house. Certainly not a majority interest in one of the largest tech conglomerates in the world, complete with the board seat which accompanied that ownership.

The man who had been concerned about a ‘little parasite’ waiting for him to die was long, long gone.

After their wedding, Peter had many exams and appointments before the team of doctors Helen and Stephen put together were ready to repair the damage done to him. The lead OB/GYN surgeon still spoke directly to Tony as he explained that it was uncertain if Peter would be able to be knotted, even after the surgery. Of course there was nothing that could be done about the Omega’s infertility. And repair of the damage done to the organs that produced an Omega’s slick would probably be limited. 

“Are you certain that you wish to invest such an expense on an Omega who will never be able to be a proper mate to you?”

Tony looked at Stephen and Helen. “You’re sure we need this guy?” he asked angrily.

“Yes Tony,” Stephen said. “He’s the best in his field and he was willing to listen to Doctor Cho’s ideas on how the surgery should be carried out and what damage needed to be repaired. You need him.”

Tony turned to Peter. “Are you all right with him doing the surgery baby?”

“Stephen and Helen told me he was the only one likely to get… the results I want. So you and I can…”

“Okay baby.” Tony glared at the surgeon. “You’re very lucky that Peter is willing to put his care in your hands. Because of that, I’m going to ignore that question you asked me. In the future, you will address any of your questions directly to Peter, as it’s his body and his decisions.”

“Yes Prime.” The doctor was cowed but clearly annoyed.

Stephen Strange was also a Prime and a non-trad who insisted on only ever being referred to as ‘doctor’ and no other designation. He assured Tony and Peter that he would be in the operating room observing the entire procedure. That Helen would be the one directing the surgeon’s hand. And that everything would be carried out exactly as it should be, he would guarantee it.

Morgan was frightened when Tony returned to the surgical waiting area. She wouldn’t let go of his hand even though Tony assured her that Peter would be all right. They’d been sitting there for an hour when Morgan looked up at Tony with a stern look on her face. “Are you making mommy do this just so you can have sex with him?”

The question surprised Tony, but then Morgan had unlimited access to books online, an intelligence many years beyond her age, and a pre-teen’s growing awareness of the adult world. “No doll. Mommy wants it done so he can have sex with me. I would never insist that Peter have anything done to him. I think he’s perfect the way he is.” He paused again, not sure how much he should tell her about the surgery and the reasons for it. “Baby wants to get rid of the reminders of what happened to him before you both came back to me.” Tony paused. “If you wanted to have your arm fixed, or anything else doll, we could do that.”

“Do you want me to?”

“I think _ you’re _perfect the way you are. You’re your own person, Morgan. I won’t make any decisions for you or force you to do anything. I just want you to know that if it, or anything else, is something you want to have done for yourself, for your own reasons, I will get it done. Doll, I’d move the world for you.”

“Okay daddy.”

Peter waited until he got released from Doctor Cho’s care to try to get Tony to make love to him. Tony waited until Doctor Cho gave him absolute certainty that Peter was ready. Peter always laughed at how overly cautious Tony was with him and with Morgan, but in reality it made him love Tony all the more.

Peter immediately rolled over in the bed the night that Doctor Cho told Tony that it was okay. 

“Unh unh baby. C’mere.” Tony held his arms open and Peter rolled into them. “Want to kiss you.”

Once Tony had kissed him a few times Peter reached his hand down between them and started to stroke Tony’s cock. Tony gently put his hand on Peter’s wrist and raised his hand to his waist. “Said I want to kiss you.” Tony smiled and kissed Peter again. “Like we always do. Told you I don’t want to fuck you I want to make love to you.”

“It’s the same thing, silly.”

“Not to me. I love you baby.” He kissed Peter again, soft, but passionately. He let his hands wander gently over Peter’s body. “I like kissing you. I like touching you. I like it when you touch me,” he said smiling as he felt Peter’s hand stroke along his side and over his back. “I like the way we’ve been together. I don’t want to lose that just because we’re adding more to things.” Tony paused and looked at Peter. “Is that okay with you baby?”

Peter sighed and pulled in closer to Tony, resting his head against the man’s chest, kissing him there. “Yes Tony.” When he looked up again, his eyes were glistening with wetness. “I love you.” He wrapped his arms tighter and rubbed his face against the Alpha’s scent gland. “I love you so much.”

Tony stiffened. “Baby…” he said, apprehension in his voice.

Peter kissed over the gland and then pulled back to kiss Tony’s mouth. “I love you Tony. You. For you. Okay baby?”

Tony smiled at hearing himself called baby. “Okay baby.”

“I just like the way you smell. I can still smell the cologne you put on for Morgan. I can still smell you. And I can smell enough of the other that I know you can keep me safe.” Peter reached up and caressed Tony’s face, letting his hand slide down, feeling the scrape of the man’s beard on his palm. “Tony…” He sighed, closed his eyes, then opened them again, meeting Tony’s gaze. “You’re not going to hurt me. I trust you. I know that nothing in the world is going to make you hurt me.”

“Oh baby.” Peter was saying impossible things. Tony kissed them from his lips, hiding them away. His kisses grew deeper, fiercer, even controlling, but always tender. He opened his eyes often during the kisses, checking Peter’s reaction. 

Peter’s reaction was one of delight and joy and passion. He clutched at Tony as they kissed. He let Tony lead, encouraging him when he hesitated and worried. Peter never wanted anyone else to touch him, he was reluctant to even shake hands or touch casually, but he wanted Tony to touch him _ everywhere_. And maybe making love _ was _ different from fucking. Tony had him panting and shuddering. But most of all, wanting _ more_.

After a long time making out and touching Peter — overwhelmed by how eager his husband was, overwhelmed by how much he loved Peter, and completely overwhelmed by the trust Peter placed in him — Tony reached down between Peter’s legs. He was so wet that his thighs were slippery. “Baby,” he moaned.

Peter smiled. “Yeah. I want you Tony.”

“Baby, is it okay if you’re on your back?” Tony asked.

“It won’t be as good for you like that. You can’t get as deep that way,” Peter explained.

Tony eased Peter onto his back and kissed him as he rolled on top of him. “Yeah, but I can kiss my baby this way.”

“I wanna make it good for you.”

“You think you’re not?” Tony slid between Peter’s thighs, bucking his hips, letting Peter feel his entire length and how hard he was. He kissed along Peter’s jaw, to his ear, nibbled on his earlobe and then whispered. “Baby, I want you to know so you don’t get scared. Even if my knot pops, it’s not going in you, okay?”

Peter bit his lips and nodded. “Maybe not… not never. Just not yet.”

“Baby, I’ll never hurt you, I promise. And I’ll never do anything you don’t want me to.” He reached up and carded his fingers through Peter’s hair. “I love you baby.” His voice was barely a whisper on a hot breath. Tony kissed down the cords of Peter’s neck. He rubbed his face against Peter’s scent gland, not kissing it or touching it with his open mouth. He didn’t kiss again until he came to Peter’s collarbone. Moving lower angled his hips sharply and when he rocked forward next time the head of his cock brushed against Peter’s slick rim, teasing, parting it slightly, but not entering. Peter’s whine of frustration brought a groan from Tony as he licked into the hollow at the center of Peter’s throat. As he slowly kissed back up to Peter’s lips, it pulled him up along the boy’s body and he entered Peter.

Peter whimpered and Tony sighed. He didn’t mean to kiss Peter so hard and in such a demanding way. Almost the way he used to kiss Peter, strong, controlling, dominant. He realized what he was doing and pulled back, trying to be more gentle, only to have Peter wrap his legs around his waist, his arms around his neck, and pull him down again, kissing and then biting his lip. 

Tony chuckled. “All right baby. I get the message.” 

Peter smiled coyly, eyes shut, eyelashes resting on his cheeks. Only to have his eyes go suddenly wide. He moaned loudly when Tony snapped his hips. “Oh god Tony!”

“That feel good baby?” Tony started steadily fucking deep into Peter.

All Peter could do was moan around a broken “Yes.” It hadn’t felt good in… a long time. It hadn’t not _ hurt _ in a long time. He tried to remember. The last person to make him feel good… was Tony. Peter’s breath hitched and tears ran down out of the corners of his eyes.

“Baby, are you okay?”

“Don’t… Oh god Tony… Don’t stop.” 

“You’re crying baby.” Tony slowed down.

“Feels good.” He shuddered underneath Tony and panted. “I didn’t think it could ever…” He tensed his legs, wrapping them tighter, pushing himself farther down onto Tony’s cock. “You feel so good.”

He buried his face in Peter’s neck. “Oh my baby,” Tony whispered in his ear. He kissed the tears off of Peter’s temple. He started moving slowly. Just rocking back and forth, letting Peter adjust to the feeling of having him inside. He felt Peter dig his heels into his back. He smiled. “Shh. Patience baby.”

“You can go faster,” Peter said, impatiently.

Tony chuckled. “Yeah, but maybe I don’t want to.” He kissed Peter. “Who’s fucking you anyway?” 

“You Tony.” Peter smiled. That little close-lipped, eyes twinkling under his lashes, smile that first made Tony trip and fall. 

“God baby,” Tony groaned against Peter’s mouth. He thought that smile was gone from Peter forever.

~~~

“You sure you’re going to be okay doll?” Tony asked as he and Peter stood outside the gate at Midtown Tech.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes daddy.” Morgan was twelve. Two years earlier than she ‘should’ have done, she tested into the start of high school. 

“Don’t let anyone, of any designation, make you feel uncomfortable,” Peter warned. “If they do, go tell the counselor, Ms. Wallingham.”

“You tell _ me _,” Tony said emphatically.

Peter laughed. “She has to get used to doing things the right way, Tony. And not running to us with everything.”

Tony crouched down to Morgan’s level. Even though she was twelve, she took after Peter in the height department. “Don’t hold yourself back, doll. I talked to the administration. They’re going to let you go as fast as you’re comfortable going. If the classes are too slow for you, tell me…” That earned him a look from Peter. “Tell Ms. Wallingham, okay?”

Morgan nodded. “Can I please go to school now? Everybody’s staring at you guys.”

**Author's Note:**

> My Starker blog on tumblr is [starker-stories](https://starker-stories.tumblr.com/).  
Come on by and visit.


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